The following relates generally to wireless communication, and more specifically to data flow management for capacity-limited wireless devices.
Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as multimedia, voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, and so on. These systems may be capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power). Examples of such multiple-access systems include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, and orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, (e.g., a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system). A wireless multiple-access communications system may include a number of base stations, each simultaneously supporting communication for multiple communication devices, which may be otherwise known as user equipment (UE).
Some types of wireless devices may provide for automated communication. Automated wireless devices may include those implementing Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication or Machine Type Communication (MTC). M2M or MTC may refer to data communication technologies that allow devices to communicate with one another or a base station without human intervention. For example, M2M or MTC may refer to communications from devices that integrate sensors or meters to measure or capture information and relay that information to a central server or application program that can make use of the information or present the information to humans interacting with the program or application.
MTC devices may be used to collect information or enable automated behavior of machines. Examples of applications for MTC devices include smart metering, inventory monitoring, water level monitoring, equipment monitoring, healthcare monitoring, alarm panels, control panels, wearable devices, weather and geological event monitoring, fleet management and tracking, remote security sensing, physical access control, and transaction-based business charging, to name a few non-exhaustive examples.
Some wireless communications systems may employ coverage enhancement (CE) techniques that increase system robustness. There may be different levels of CE such that higher level CE provide more reliable communications, particularly for devices that are located relatively far away from a base station or in locations where wireless transmissions are relatively highly attenuated (e.g., in a basement location), relative to lower level CEs. In many cases, CE relies on repetition of transmissions, which may impact timelines for transmitting and processing certain types of communications.